Ten years ago today, I took this picture of our house.
Trust me, there are easier ways to fill a swimming pool.
I was at work on Maundy Thursday afternoon when I got a phone call from my wife, telling me my house was on fire. I told my boss on slack, “I have to go, my house is on fire” and hit the road. Later on, he told me he wasn’t sure if I was joking or not. My sense of humor is not always relatable.
I arrived home a half hour later. Well, home-ish. I wasn’t able to get more than about half a mile from my house. The road was closed off by fire trucks, emergency vehicles, and a news truck. When I parked at a neighbor’s house and started up the road, someone stopped me to tell me I couldn’t go up the road, there was a house on fire.
“I know. It’s my house.” They let me through.
My two youngest were at school. My wife had taken our oldest out to go clothes shopping. It had been the first truly nice day of spring, so before she left, my wife kicked all the animals (save one cat) out of the house. We found that little fuzzball later, huddled up in the basement. So - miraculously - though the house was a fireball death trap, nobody was hurt except for a couple of goldfish.
My wife and a couple of friends were waiting for me when I got there. I’m forever grateful to those handful of people who were there to help us immediately.
Emil is our neighbor who called in the alarm when he saw the smoke. A retired Marine, he rushed to the house and got there before the fire department. He kicked down the door and rushed in to pull out anyone who might have been overcome by the fire. I have a soft spot for Marines; this is one of the big reasons why.
My friend Aaron was there to comfort us. Which was perfect, because he does relate to my sense of humor. If you want someone to laugh with you about the absurdity of getting your pool filled via house fire, Aaron’s definitely the one you want around.
Pastor Charlie, our girl’s school principal, was there as well. He took on the responsibility of contacting our insurance company. Which was a literally a godsend. Maundy Thursday afternoon, remember? He called around and managed to catch the last person in the insurance office as they were heading out the door. That lady ran out to the parking lot and got her office mates to come back in and start processing out claim immediately. So we had money for expenses the next day, instead of having to wait nearly a week.
Back to the flames. The house was, indeed, on fire. Blazing. I’ve got some truly amazing pictures of that tucked away. This is the one that really sticks with me, though. A fire hose on an extension, shooting water down through the house and into the above-ground swimming pool we got for the girls. Yeah, thge house was on fire, but at least we were getting the pool topped off!
Throughout it all, Shari clung to me. Or I held on to her. It was hard to say who was doing the holding at times. Once I was sure everyone was safe, she asked how I was doing. I told her, “OK. It’s just stuff.”
I meant it, too. We lost a lot that day. Not quite everything, as it turns out. Right then, we didn’t know that. Despite that uncertainty, I had a tremendous sense of calm. It was just stuff. We could replace it all. My wife, my girls, even the various house goblins were all safe.
I learned an important lesson that day. When you have an overwhelming event like that, it’s easy to give it up to God. You can see that there’s nothing you can humanly do except pray. So letting it go is both actually very easy, and very much a relief.
Most of our life isn’t made up of those overwhelming events, though. Instead, it’s made up of events or people that we think we can handle just fine on our own. If we’re just a little smarter, if we’re just a little more glib, if we do the right things and say the right words. Wy would I bother God for those things? Who needs prayer in those situations?
I do. I realized that ten years ago, when our house burned down. If God is there, and can give me peace when my house is on fire, He’s there through it all. Just like Emil and Aaron and Charlie, he’s there for me, in good times and bad.
It took me a while to internalize all that. Tend years on, trust me - I’m still working on it. It did help me make another big life change a few years later… but that’s another story.
Happy house burning day! What event in your life has forced you to change how you look at the world?
The Business of Writing
A mid-week update on my three major commitments: to write, to edit, and to read.
I’ve been cranking on the latest story. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to come up with five thousand words for it. As of last night, I’m at seven thousand - and I still have another car to blow up, a dog to rescue, and Guilder to frame for it. Now that I’m not fighting my medication, it has been surprisingly fun to talk about futuristic Mad-Max style shenanigans in the badlands of New Mexico.
put out an open call I can’t get out of my head. Face the Storm is going to be an anthology of stories about “space coasties”. Being the contrary soul that I am, and having a love for creepy sea stories, I’ve got an idea I really want to run with. Now, I just need to figure out how to jam it into my schedule.I’ve also been sorting the revised stories authors have been sending in for the Tull anthologies. The next step is starting to work through through the production spread sheets. Contracts, copyedits, proofs, cover art… there’s going to be a whole host of moving pieces. I’m glad I’ve got some way to keep track of them.
Last but not least: there’s a final cover fromRaconteur Press for the Wyrd West anthology coming out at the end of the week.
This is going to be a good one, folks. If I’m counting correctly, we have five Alpha Mercs involved in this one - and four of us are on the cover!
I am tremendously proud of our little writing group. We’re supporting each other, honing our craft, and putting out good stories. Aside from the Tull anthologies, there’s going to be a couple of other side projects poking their heads up into the light of day. Keep your eyes on the Mercs and subscribe to
if you want to keep up with what they’re working on.Other Stuff
The wedding went off without any problem they couldn’t handle. In the end, two great people got hitched, we all got to be there for it, and we even made a few new friends. Strange how that all works out. Shari wants them to get back home because of love and friendship and wanting to see pictures from their cruise, or something like that. Personally, I’m looking forward to the newlyweds getting back from their honeymoon because she’s our DM and we have goblins to kill, don’cha know!
The Alldaughter is moving down to Kentucky later this week. Not the first time for out-of-state habitation, but it is a little stressful. I need to recall the lessons learned I talked about above. God’s in control. One way or another, it will all work out.
Until it does, then - take care! See you all next week!
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Wow... that was an emotional read. Glad you've come out so well on the other side.
Dang, Sam. I'm glad to hear that you and your family weren't harmed by that fire. And I'm due to get going on the edits by Saturday. 👍 I should have something by Monday.